My fiancee & I got engaged last August and are getting married in July. One thing we found out pretty quickly is that weddings are EXPENSIVE.

Between choosing the venue, DJ, invitations, baker, caterer, flowers, decor, and formalwear, your bank account could take a serious hit. But spending THIS much for a wedding seems steep to me.

According to The Knot's 2018 Real Weddings Study, the average cost is $33,931.

HUH?

Most of us aren't Prince Harry & Meghan Markle, so these numbers don't make much sense to me. What exactly are these brides and grooms spending their money on? Here's the budget breakdown:

The average wedding dress was $1,631 compared to just $283 for the groom's outfit.  The wedding photographer, about $2,700 . . . reception band, $4,247 . . . DJ, $1,292 . . . flowers, $2,411 . . . liquor, $2,564 . . . food, $70 per guest (the average wedding has 136 guests, so that means you're spending more than $9,500 on food alone) . . . transportation, $856.

According to The Knot, the average cost of the rehearsal dinner is about $1,300, the wedding cake is more than $500, the ceremony site is about $2,400...with the reception venue averaging $15,439 (25% of couples said they spent AT LEAST $20,000). Oh, and it's also factoring in an average cost of $5,680 for the bride's engagement ring.

So...yeah...that's NOT happening. This is clearly aimed at stuffy rich people and women who've read way too many fairy tales. You can have a beautiful, memorable wedding without breaking the bank. And...about 50% of marriages result in divorce, so your relationship might not even last long enough to pay off your ridiculous wedding debt. Isn't THAT romantic?

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